The Stash Edge

MY STASH TAKEEvery brand that's still running creators through 6-week approval flows is leaving a 4x multiplier on the table. The win here isn't the money — it's that Molson Coors figured out that speed IS the creative. A creator who can post on Tuesday instead of November ships something that looks like they actually wanted to work with you. The brands winning are the ones whose ops teams are smaller and faster than their legal teams.

MY STASH TAKERetail media feels like paying rent on a shelf you already bought. But it's not — it's paying for the attention of someone holding a cart and ready to buy, right now, in that aisle. The reason Kroger's retail media profits are climbing is because brands finally got it: a shopper in the milk aisle is worth 100x more than a shopper scrolling at home. If you have a food or beverage brand at retail, you should be testing Kroger's retail media before you test another paid platform.

MY STASH TAKEThe brands that actually get and keep shelf space aren't the ones with the best pitch deck. They're the ones that walk in with documented velocity from DTC or a prior retail test, then say 'we've already scaled production to meet it.' Joolies did the unglamorous part first — the capital spend, the farm contracts, the warehousing — so the retail conversation became about allocation, not feasibility. If you're an emerging brand eyeing retail, this is the move: prove DTC velocity, then build supply to match it, then tell retail you're ready.

MY STASH TAKEReformation's move here is subtle but hard. They could have bragged about revenue or new store count — the easy flexes. Instead, they chose to emphasize that their existing customer base is growing more active. That's a strong signal: it says 'we're not burning through customers; they're coming back.' For a resale platform, that's everything. It means the product works, the community stays, the repeat loop closes. If you're a physical product brand, your version of this metric is repeat purchase rate or months between orders. Track it, know it cold, and lead with it when you talk to investors or partners.

MY STASH TAKEBankruptcy is brutal for the losing brand but clarifying for the market. Michaels didn't invent a new product — it just realized it was leaving money on the table by not stocking a category their customers already wanted. The lesson for brands: if your competitor exits, you have maybe 90 days to grab their shelf space and their customer base before the buyer moves on to the next thing. Move fast.

MY STASH TAKECategory expansion at big retailers is messy and political, but it's also the only time they'll take real risks on unknown brands. Michaels did it with fabric, Target's doing it with F&B right now. The window closes once the category is established and the politics settle. If you're an emerging food or beverage brand, you're looking at a 12–18 month window to pitch Target before the category gets locked down by the established players. Move now.

MY STASH TAKEThis is still in the watch phase — Walgreens is running it as a test, not a permanent fixture yet. But the pattern is clear: every major retailer that has built a profitable retail media business started with digital screens. Kroger proved it works. Walgreens is next. The brands that figure out which placements convert first will have the cheapest edge before media inflation. It's early enough that you're not paying premium rates yet.